Lawrence Reeves Posted December 14, 2009 Share Posted December 14, 2009 I went to a session about an hour and a half away yesterday afternoon. I was blown away with the acoustics of the place, and really thought it made the concertina sound great. So many times I have trouble hearing myself in a loud session, but this coffee house was awesome. A very old, built in the teens narrow room with tall ceilings. The ceiling fans were off, and all hardwood floors. The Shakespeare I have played for years, is not a very powerful box in big rooms, so this was a real treat. I am in the planning stages of a recording, and although I will play mostly flute and whistle for it, I will play a few sets on concertina. The room has now become a big focus of where the recordings will take place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce McCaskey Posted December 14, 2009 Share Posted December 14, 2009 It's great that you've found such a space. I've encountered a few over the years that have been quite complimentary to my instruments, although sadly, none were close to my home. May I suggest that you test different locations within the room as you decide where to set up to play for your recording equipment? I find that changing locations in almost any enclosed or semi-enclosed space can affect how a concertina sounds. Playing in a corner sounds different from being against a wall on one side of room, and that's often different then being in the center of the room. Much depends on the amount of hard surfaces and the placement of door openings and non-reflective surfaces such as soft-surface furniture and carpet. Of course the microphone placement and technical aspects of their elements and amplification are big factors too. A microphone set for placement very near the concertina reeds would likely be much less responsive to room acoustics than one placed some distance away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henrik Müller Posted December 15, 2009 Share Posted December 15, 2009 ...I was blown away with the acoustics of the place, ... Agree, agree! The place, the space can really get the best out of you - there are some rooms around here, where I could be left alone to play for hours and hours. Now - a lounge with soft settees and a thick carpet... /Henrik Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Timson Posted December 15, 2009 Share Posted December 15, 2009 The ceiling fans were off, Just as well unless you *like* warbling concertinas Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael sam wild Posted December 15, 2009 Share Posted December 15, 2009 Good luck Lawrence I hope you let us know when it's out. I love a high room, hard wood floors and stone walls. My old kitchen wqs like that. Now I play with my mate who has an old Victoruian stone house. As a lad we all chose the tiled toilets at our school for harmony singing, great reverb! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jody Kruskal Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 As a lad we all chose the tiled toilets at our school for harmony singing, great reverb We did the same with stairwells. Great stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Timson Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 We did the same with stairwells. Great stuff. For many years the last "event" of the evening at Chippenham Folk Festival (until they rebuilt the Neeld Hall) was the gathering at the bottom of the stairwell by the loos for a session singing chorus songs. This became known as the Acoustic Bog Chorus. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frogspawn Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 I recently started taking my concertina to work where I play at the bottom of a back stairwell at lunchtime. The acoustics are very wet. Somebody from another company came down to see what the noise was. He is himself an accordion player but thought I was playing some sort of electronic instrument! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterT Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 We did the same with stairwells. Great stuff. For many years the last "event" of the evening at Chippenham Folk Festival (until they rebuilt the Neeld Hall) was the gathering at the bottom of the stairwell by the loos for a session singing chorus songs. This became known as the Acoustic Bog Chorus. Chris Funny how I knew, from half a sentence, that you were going to say that! A great time was had by all, in that concertina-free environment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Peters Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 I enjoy practicing in a 'live' room - the kitchen, in our house - and performing in a resonant space as opposed to a dead one can make you feel as though you're sounding twice as good. Personally, though (and I do stress personally), I don't like my recording space to be too live. A very resonant room can make the music sound very distant if you're not careful, whereas I prefer a more intimate sound. Also, if you're recording a vocal or other instruments at the same time, all the problems of spill are magnified. Having said that, I believe John K. (on 'Sheepskins', I think) chose a resonant space with the mikes at the far end, to get as much room sound as possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael sam wild Posted December 16, 2009 Share Posted December 16, 2009 Wasn't that in the 3 Tuns at Bishop's Castle in Shropshire? We had a nice session there when Sheffield City Morris visited Bedlams Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henrik Müller Posted August 30, 2010 Share Posted August 30, 2010 I know this is an old post, but... Recently, I had the privilige to be asked to play a piece (of my own choice) at friends' wedding, the ceremony taking place in the cathedral in Lund in southern Sweden. Considering the reverberation time, I played an Irish slow air, Bhean Dubh an Gleanna (The Dark Woman of the Glen). A mighty, mighty experience, also demonstrating the value of doing one's home work: I find airs very difficult to learn and had spent two weeks getting it right; that paid off. /Henrik Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimLucas Posted August 31, 2010 Share Posted August 31, 2010 Ordinarily, I find that playing in outdoor spaces, the sound "disappears" into the air. But there are exceptions. One can think of canyons and such, but a favorite place for me is between the house and barn on a friend's farm. I'd guess they're about 12 meters apart, both made of wood (with planks set vertically; I wonder if that matters), and the result is very "live" and "rich", without being "echoey". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy Stein Posted August 31, 2010 Share Posted August 31, 2010 For amazing acoustics of a room view Juliette Daum's youtube videos. The sound of the room enhances her amazing playing. rss Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kautilya Posted August 31, 2010 Share Posted August 31, 2010 (edited) I know this is an old post, but... Recently, I had the privilige to be asked to play a piece (of my own choice) at friends' wedding, the ceremony taking place in the cathedral in Lund in southern Sweden. Considering the reverberation time, I played an Irish slow air, Bhean Dubh an Gleanna (The Dark Woman of the Glen). A mighty, mighty experience, also demonstrating the value of doing one's home work: I find airs very difficult to learn and had spent two weeks getting it right; that paid off. /Henrik Were you playing a bass tina? :blink: Tried to find a recording of Durham Cathedral's 'banned' long bass pipe with no luck** but sounds like Augsburg is well in the reverb league! http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=3Wpn7xyzUqg&feature=more_related Rather messy Durham at around 1.49 And I offer the other end of the scale - crystal echo http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=5LgipaPfQww&feature=related Edited August 31, 2010 by Kautilya Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael sam wild Posted August 31, 2010 Share Posted August 31, 2010 (edited) We recently visited an old abbey in Galloway, destroyed by Henry VIII,. One of the chantry houses is intact and the acoustics were phenomenal , you could get the right resonance key, somewhere around the key of A ( I had no tuner sadly) Just right for plainsong I reckon. Another thing i've noticed , when you have the luck to play in an old Assembly Room from the 18th C you can see how the musicians could play for lively and noisy dances without PA. I suppose chamber music was tailored to the room Edited August 31, 2010 by michael sam wild Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Booth Posted September 4, 2010 Share Posted September 4, 2010 Thinking about Jim's comment about playing outside: I always take a solo trip around the Pacific Northwest in the Summer, wandering around up in the woods alone, following my nose. I always take my concertina and have found that playing outside in the open wilderness just doesn't do it for me. It seems that not only does the sound get swallowed up in the vastness, but I get this sense that I am, somehow, gilding the lily, that the huge rustling of forest, wind, and rushing water (all ubiquitous in the Northwest woods) don't want or need my feeble pipings. I become...fashed, I suppose is the word, and inevitably put the old girl back in her case to wait until I find a place that will accept the music. All very moony and subjective, but there it is. Have you ever felt this way? RB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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